During their August 9 coverage of businessman Ned Lamont's victory over Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic Senate primary, the morning news programs on the three major broadcast networks aired interviews of Lieberman, who used the airtime to attack Lamont and his supporters. But the morning shows failed to interview Lamont or any of his representatives, denying Lamont the opportunity to respond to Lieberman's attacks. The network morning shows' failure to interview Lamont came despite his apparent availability for media appearances -- he was interviewed on the August 9 edition of CNN's American Morning. Additionally, two of the three morning shows -- NBC's Today and CBS' The Early Show -- aired twice as much footage of Lieberman's statements following the election as they ran of Lamont's statements or those of his supporters.

During his interview by co-host Matt Lauer on Today, Lieberman stated that if Lamont were to win the general election in November, “he would be just one more partisan polarizer” who would “get in the way of America and Connecticut doing anything about the real problems we have.” Lieberman also accused Lamont of “very cleverly and ... deceivingly distort[ing] my record” during the primary race, and he suggested that Lamont's victory was due to support by “the margins” of the Democratic Party. Lieberman decried the “dominance of both parties” by their “margins,” adding that “the parties ... are getting in the way” of good government. He said that in running as an independent, he would seek to “bring[] the Democratic Party back from Ned Lamont and [Rep.] Maxine Waters [D-CA] to the mainstream.”

Similarly, during his interview by co-host Harry Smith on CBS' The Early Show, Lieberman accused Lamont of “distortions” of his record and contrasted “Ned Lamont and his supporters ... on the margins of our party” with himself and the “mainstream” of the Democratic Party.

Additionally, on Good Morning America, co-host Diane Sawyer offered Lieberman an open door to attack Lamont's supporters. She asked Lieberman to respond to comments by “some of your supporters” who have attacked pro-Lamont bloggers as “extremists” and accused them of “dirty tricks” and “bigotry.” Sawyer also asked Lieberman if he agreed with the statement that “the extremists hijacked your party in your state.” Lieberman responded by characterizing “some” of “the bloggers who came after me” as “full of hatred and vituperation,” adding that “that is just not good for our politics.” Lieberman also accused posters on “some of those blogs” of “the kind of bigotry that has no place in American public life” and asserted that Lamont's victory may “send a message ... that the Democratic Party ... has been taken over by people who are not from the mainstream of America.”

Although American Morning co-host Soledad O'Brien did interview Lamont about his primary election victory, she echoed others in the media by citing unnamed "[a]nalysts" who claim Lamont's primary victory has “given Republicans a platform ... to say the [Democratic] [P]arty has gone far to the left” and that “a guy who not long ago was on the verge of being elected vice president of the United States is not even enough of a Democrat today to win.”

In addition to failing to provide any airtime for Lamont, Today and The Early Show each devoted more than twice as much airtime to clips of Lieberman than to clips of Lamont and his supporters in their initial reports on Lamont's victory. NBC correspondent Chip Reid's report on Lamont's victory featured 36 seconds of footage of Lieberman's remarks following his defeat by Lamont, but only 16 seconds of Lamont footage. CBS reporter Trish Regan's report on Lamont's victory contained 39 seconds of Lieberman footage, but only eight seconds of Lamont footage, as well as 10 seconds of footage of Lowell Weicker, a former Connecticut congressman, senator, and governor who supported Lamont. Weicker, a Republican during his terms in Congress, was elected governor as an independent.

From the August 9 broadcast of NBC's Today:

LAUER: I would imagine your phone is going to start to ring pretty early this morning, Senator. The likes of [Sen.] Frank Lautenberg [D-NJ] and [Sen.] Chris Dodd [D-CT] and maybe even [former President] Bill Clinton calling to say, “Senator, step aside. The voters have spoken.” Are you going to take their calls, or are you going to screen their calls?

LIEBERMAN: Well, I'll always take the calls of friends, but my mind is made up. I'm going forward. I'm going forward because I'm fed up with all the partisanship in Washington that stops us from getting anything done. If my opponent Mr. Lamont ever was successful, the fact is that he would be just one more partisan polarizer and get in the way of America and Connecticut doing anything about the real problems we have going forward.

[...]

LAUER: Let me go back to that line in your speech last night. I'll paraphrase it, if you don't mind. You said for the sake of your state, your country and my party, you will not let these results stand. It's a nice line in a speech, but the fact of the matter is there are a lot of Democrats who think that now, going forward, you are putting your own personal ambitions above the good of the party. How do you respond to that?

LIEBERMAN: I think it's time for somebody to break through the dominance of both parties by the margins of the parties, which happens in primaries. I think it's time for somebody to break through and say, “Hey, let's cut out the partisan nonsense.” Yes, I'm a proud Democrat. But I'm more devoted to my state and my country than I am to my party. And the parties today are getting in the way of our government doing for our people what they need their government to do. So in the end, Matt, the great thing about America is that the people will have the last word.

LAUER: Let's talk about --

LIEBERMAN: I believe I have a message to go forward. And they'll judge it.

LAUER: Let's talk about the record. The records show you voted with your party 90 percent of the time.

LIEBERMAN: Yeah.

LAUER: Yet Ned Lamont succeeded in painting you as a lapdog for the White House. That famous picture of the president embracing you at the 2005 State of the Union address. I mean, how many times did we see that during this campaign? Ninety-four percent of Ned Lamont's supporters said they would vote for him because of your support for the war in Iraq and your failure to call for a deadline, a timetable for the pullout of U.S. troops. So, did he paint an inaccurate portrait of you, or have you lost touch with the voters of Connecticut?

LIEBERMAN: Well, look, what I haven't lost touch with is fulfilling my constitutional responsibility as a senator to do what I think will protect our national security. I think it would be a disaster for us, our troops, Iraq, and the whole Middle East if we did what my opponent wants to do and pull all of our troops out by a deadline certain. But, look, the point here is, how do we go forward? How do we make our country better? How do we unite our people? And my opponent, I must say -- looking back at the campaign -- that he very cleverly and, in my opinion, deceivingly distorted my record. Yes, I believe it was right to overthrow Saddam Hussein. I have said along with [Sen.] John McCain [R-AZ] and others that the Bush administration made serious mistakes after Saddam Hussein was overthrown in Iraq. But now, the question is, how can we end our involvement in Iraq as soon as possible without leaving a disaster there? And I think as long as the majority of Iraqis are -- are trying to build a free and independent Iraq, it would be awful of us, and disastrous for our future as well as theirs, to do what Lamont wants to do and just pick up and leave. America should not do that, cannot do that.

LAUER: So you won't bend at all on the issue of a deadline for troop withdrawal. Senator, is there any phone call you could receive -- is there anyone in the Democratic Party who could call you today and ask you to drop out that you would listen to?

LIEBERMAN: Respectfully, no. I am -- I am committed to this campaign, to a different kind of politics, to bringing the Democratic Party back from Ned Lamont and Maxine Waters to the mainstream, and for doing something for the people of Connecticut.

From the August 9 broadcast of CBS' The Early Show:

SMITH: Incumbents do not get turned out of office, especially in primaries in this country. Do you understand that your support for the war is the reason you lost Tuesday?

LIEBERMAN: Oh, there's no question about it. I mean, every indication I had from the voters of Connecticut, including public opinion polls, said they agreed with me on most issues, that they appreciated all the work that I had done for the state of Connecticut. But my -- my opponent convinced them with a lot of distortions, I think, to use this as a referendum to send a message to -- of opposition and anger to President Bush and the war in Iraq.

[...]

SMITH: A final quick question. You will run as an independent at risk of losing the seat to the Republicans? You understand that risk? By splitting the Democratic vote.

LIEBERMAN: You know, I don't believe -- I don't believe that that is the actual risk. I think that for the most part and in the end, this is going to come down to round two, or the second half between Ned Lamont and me. Ned Lamont and his supporters on the -- on the margins of our party and Joe Lieberman, a mainstream Democrat who -- who can win and will win in November.

From the August 9 broadcast of ABC's Good Morning America:

SAWYER: Some of your supporters have gone very far on the bloggers. And they've said this is the first victory for the anti-war bloggers, and some of them have called them names like “extremists,” saying that they've engaged in everything from dirty tricks to -- even “bigotry” was a word that was suggested. Do you think that the extremists hijacked your party in your state? Will you agree with that statement?

LIEBERMAN: Well, look, the blogs are a form of expression. There's nothing wrong with a blog. It depends how you use it. I will tell you that the bloggers who came after me are -- some of them were so full of hatred and vituperation that it's just not good for our politics. And frankly, on some of those blogs, there was the kind of bigotry that has no place in American public life. So I worry that this victory yesterday by Ned Lamont, which was a narrow victory, will send a message across our state and our country that the Democratic Party has taken -- has been taken over by people who are not from the mainstream of America, and -- and that they are going to make this not Bill Clinton's Democratic Party anymore. And remember, Bill Clinton was a mainstream Democrat who was elected twice and governed with great success.

From the August 9 edition of CNN's American Morning:

O'BRIEN: Analysts say what you have done now with your victory is given Republicans a platform on which to say the party has gone far to the left. That a guy who not long ago was on the verge of being elected vice president of the United States is not even enough of a Democrat today to win. What do you respond to that?

LAMONT: I think it's nonsense. I mean, take the war in Iraq. I think that's way outside of the bipartisan tradition of this country. I mean, do you think in a heartbeat that [former President] George Herbert Walker Bush in his administration would have had a unilateral attack on that country? I don't think so. We know Bill Clinton wouldn't have done that. You know, look at going from [former Justice] Sandra Day O'Connor to [Justice] Sam[uel] Alito on the Supreme Court. I think there's a sense that we have a rightward drift in this country right now. Look at the effort to privatize Social Security. These are things that are way outside of the mainstream of this country, and I mean to go down to Washington, D.C., and bring us back to our roots.